Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon sets sail for eastern Mediterranean

Royal Navy warship HMS Dragon is heading to the eastern Mediterranean, a week after its deployment was announced.

The Type 45 destroyer is capable of shooting down drones and ballistic missiles fired by Iran and its proxies as the Middle East crisis continues.

The crew of the vessel were seen lining the deck as the ship moved out of Portsmouth Harbour.

Officials insisted the ship had been prepared as quickly as possible for deployment, with six weeks’ worth of work squeezed into six days.

The announcement of the deployment of the ship came in response to a drone attack which hit the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus.

HMS Dragon, which has a crew of around 200, is capable of firing eight Sea Viper missiles in under 10 seconds to take down aerial targets.

Its commanding officer, Commander Iain Giffin, said: “We are trained for this, we are ready for this, we have the equipment and people, we have the support of the British people and, most importantly, our families and friends.”

Defence Secretary John Healey praised the naval personnel and civilian teams who “worked flat out” to prepare HMS Dragon for deployment, adding: “What is normally six weeks of work was completed in just six days – a remarkable effort delivered around the clock. They are the very best of Britain in action.”

But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “After two weeks of Keir Starmer’s dithering, HMS Dragon is finally leaving port.

“I wish our brave servicemen and women a safe deployment.”

The departure of HMS Dragon came after the Ministry of Defence confirmed a second British ship was being prepared for a potential deployment.

Landing ship RFA Lyme Bay has aviation and medical facilities, allowing it to assist if the crisis continues to deepen and an evacuation is needed from Lebanon, where Israel has been targeting Iran’s Hezbollah allies.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “As part of prudent planning, we have taken the decision to bring RFA Lyme Bay to heightened readiness as a precaution, should she be needed to assist in maritime tasks in the eastern Mediterranean.”

Markets calmed after US President Donald Trump suggested the military action would be a “short-term excursion” rather than a more prolonged war and threatened “death, fire and fury” against Iran unless vessels were allowed through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime oil and gas route.

But nervousness around the potential impact of higher energy costs still lingered.

The UK’s budget watchdog warned inflation this year could be higher than it had previously estimated.

Professor David Miles, a member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR’s) budget responsibility committee, told MPs: “Right now, if prices don’t change from where they are – both the spot prices and market expectations for futures prices, which is particularly important for the Ofgem price cap – we think the inflation rate would end the year not near 2%, but nearer 3%.”

In London the FTSE 100 index closed 1.59%, or 162.72 points, higher at 10,412.24 at the end of trading on Tuesday, as the major European markets all regained ground.

It was partly driven by a sharp drop in the price of oil, with Brent crude falling by 12.7% to 86.38 US dollars a barrel.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones and S&P are also higher after recovering from an initial dip after the markets opened.

US Air Force B1 bombers were seen taking off from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire as the Trump administration indicated an escalation in its raids on Iran.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday would be “our most intense day of strikes inside Iran” so far in the campaign.

He said that the last 24 hours had seen Iran fire the lowest amount of missiles it had launched since the crisis began.